My Hobby and Interest - Research

 Thanks to Jeanne Wishengrad for this contribution! Faith community partners with scientists to track urban heat in Northern Virginia Sonali Singh Before sunrise on July 16, Elizabeth “Betty” Ende climbed into her car in McLean, Virginia, with a temperature sensor on the roof and a navigator beside her. The team would drive an hourlong route near Wolf Trap three times that day, through heavily shaded streets and open stretches of asphalt. As they crossed the intersection of Dulles Access Road and Route 7 — two major roadways that are traveled by hundreds of thousands of vehicles daily — the readings climbed. Ende was one of about 80 volunteers who fanned out across the region for Measurement Day, the centerpiece of the Urban Heat Island Mapping Project, a partnership between George Mason University's Virginia Climate Center and Faith Alliance for Climate Solutions, a Northern Virginia interfaith nonprofit organization. More than 30 volunteer teams drove 30 preselected routes throug...

 Join me in the Scarborough main conference room on this week or on zoom: Tuesday October 6 and October 8, 8:00am-8:30am https://maine.zoom.us/j/4625543963 If you are joining in person in the main conf room in Scarborough, mats are available in the lobby closet. Come early to make yourself a space for practice.

 The Scientist Federal Research Grant Awards Fall to a Six-Year Low An independent grant tracker's analysis of NIH's own award records shows the agency has issued fewer grant awards this fiscal year than in any of the past six. As Washington fights over how much control political appointees should have over which National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants get funded, a simpler number has gone largely unremarked: the agency is issuing fewer of them.  Scott Delaney , a former Harvard University epidemiologist, began helping build Grant Witness early last year while facing the loss of his own federal research funding; it has since grown into an independent, grant-by-grant record of federal science funding disruptions. In a recent interview, he noted that NIH's total spending is much closer to last year's levels than its number of awards is. “We’re down 15,000 grants [nationally],” he  told  the  Boston Globe . Grant Witness’s own published analysis of NIH’s award r...

 NIH Building Thriving Research Groups LINK A new five-part virtual series building on the foundation of the Raising a Resilient Scientist Series (RRS) for faculty and staff who work with, supervise, and support research fellows. About the series The  Building Thriving Research Groups Series  is a five-part series designed for PIs, staff scientists, staff clinicians, and others who supervise or support fellows in research settings. Through practical frameworks, strategies, case discussions, and tools, participants will explore how to set clear expectations, understand and respond to fellows' needs, communicate and provide feedback effectively, navigate performance and conflict, and support well-being—for fellows, colleagues, and themselves. The series recognizes that creating a thriving research group is a shared responsibility. PIs may have overall responsibility for the group, while staff scientists, staff clinicians, and other experienced team members often play import...